Not Like Every Other Morning
by misscam
Summary: She's pregnant. Not just pregnant, *pregnant*, so very pregnant. Visibly pregnant. Extremely pregnant. Not-long-until-birth pregnant. Pregnant. She just woke up pregnant. Pregnant. *Pregnant*. [Snow/Charming]


Not Like Every Other Morning (but a Morning)  
by misscam

Disclaimer: Not my characters, just my words.

Author's Note: Spoilers for 3x12 and 3x13, but set before Emma returns to Storybrooke.

II

Something is different.

It takes Snow a while to pinpoint exactly what, as her mind slowly but surely becomes aware of her surroundings. She's warm and comfortable, clearly in bed, and the warm body next to her is familiar in all the right ways. It's Charming, sleeping on his side next to her with his head nestled against her neck and an arm resting protectively across her body beneath the covers. She doesn't even need to open her eyes to know it's him; she can feel it, hear it, smell it.

Like every other morning.

Blindly, she turns her head towards his, and tries to turn her body too, and that's when she realizes just what feels different this morning.

It's her body. Her body is different.

Her eyes fly open and she stares down her body in shock. Even with the covers tucked around them, the large bump she's sporting is impossible to miss.

So not like every other morning after all.

She stares.

She's _pregnant. _Not just pregnant, _pregnant_, so very pregnant. Visibly pregnant. Extremely pregnant. Not-long-until-birth pregnant. Pregnant.

She just woke up pregnant.

Pregnant.

_Pregnant._

She can't even remember finding out she was pregnant, or morning sickness, or the growing swell of her stomach, or the back aches and the changes in her body as the baby grew. She can't remember any of it, yet her bump is the clear proof that it has happened.

Charming makes a soft noise in his sleep, his hand moving across her stomach in a slow, soft caress. In response, Snow can feel the soft kick of the baby, and for a moment, she can't even breathe.

Baby. She's carrying a baby. Charming's baby, she has no doubt, because it would only be him, will always be him no matter what world they are in or have been in.

_Emma_, she remembers suddenly and painfully. They were saying goodbye to Emma, again, watching her drive off to her happy ending with Henry while the magic of Regina's curse being undone washed over them. It was meant to take them back, but this is their apartment in Storybrooke. Didn't it work? Did it work, but not as it was meant to?

"Charming," she whispers, and he shifts slightly.

"Snow," he murmurs sleepily, pressing a kiss to her neck, and reassuring her that whatever has happened, he hasn't been stripped of his memories of who he is, or who she is. She doesn't think she could bear that.

"Charming," she says again, more insistently, and he blinks at her a few times before opening his eyes fully. He meets her gaze, and whatever he sees in her face, he clearly knows something is off immediately.

"What is it?" he asks. She can't find the words to tell him, not with her mind still reeling, so she puts her own hand on his that is still resting on her stomach and squeezes.

He lowers his gaze, and then just stares.

"Snow..." he breathes, his voice thick. "Are you...?"

With impeccable timing, the baby kicks. The expression across Charming's face is a mixture of bewilderment and utter, utter joy, and she can feel tears pricking at her eyes.

"I'm pregnant," she manages. "I don't remember how, but..."

"Regina was undoing the curse," he says, but his voice sounds far away. Gently, he strokes her stomach, wonder making his eyes bright as he does.

"That's the last thing I remember too," she says, biting her lip.

"Clearly, it's not the last thing we did," he says, still staring at her bump. Then he lifts his gaze to her face, and leans forward and kisses her tenderly. She lifts a hand to his cheek, meeting the kiss and letting it reassure and comfort her. Charming is here with her. Whatever has happened, whatever is wrong, Charming is with her. They can make this right together.

He rests his forehead against hers as he pulls back slightly, his hand still resting on her stomach as if he needs the constant physical reminder that this is really happening.

"I remember Emma and Henry driving away," she says, and she knows he can hear the loss in her voice. "The last thing I remember was the back of her yellow bug and your hand in mind."

"Me too," he says, and she can hear the loss in his voice too. "The next thing I remember is waking up next to you just now."

He glances down at her bump again, and she swallows another lump in her throat at the longing look in his eyes. However this happened, whatever they've forgotten, she knows Charming is as happy about another child as she is – and feels the same bittersweet sense of loss, knowing they lost this with Emma.

"We're still in Storybrooke," he concludes, and she nods. "Either the curse wasn't properly undone, or it's been recast or something else has gone wrong. But we know some time must have passed."

"We have to find out if we're the only ones who don't remember," she says, and this time he nods.

"I'll call Grumpy," he says. "He can get in touch with the dwarfs."

"I'll call Ruby," she replies. "I just have to check something upstairs first."

He looks at her face, then smiles almost sadly at her.

"You're going to check Emma and Henry's rooms, aren't you?" he asks, and she can only nod. "Snow, even if we're caught again doesn't mean they are. We saw them drive away."

"I don't want them to be," she says, her voice sounding chocked even to her. A small, selfish part of her might wish Emma and Henry here, but it's drowned by the overwhelming desire to just see Emma happy. "I want them to be happy and for Emma to be free of all this. She's never been happy being the savior; she told us that. I want..."

"You want what you think is best for her," he says softly, and leans forward and kisses the tears from her cheeks. "You're her mother."

She closes her eyes as Charming kisses her face over and over until her tears have dried. A mother. She wanted that more than anything, to be Emma's mother and Charming's wife and the sort of ruler for her kingdom that her mother would have been proud of.

Nothing turned out quite how she wanted then. And now? What does she want now, with another baby on the way she can't even remember conceiving?

The phone rings. Charming sighs, then kisses her forehead before stepping out of bed and picking up his pants before heading towards the ringing. It's Grumpy, she can tell from how Charming responds, and she can tell from Charming's expression it's not good news.

With a sigh, she rises from bed herself. With the unfamiliar extra weight, she feels unsteady on her feet as she walks over to her dresser and then pauses. Does she even have anything to wear that will fit now?

She doesn't, as it turns out, but she borrows one of Charming's shirts that is large enough to fit her extended frame. With that on, she makes her slow way up the stairs and pauses just for a moment by what was Emma's door.

Then she braces herself and looks inside.

The bed is empty, and Snow feels the grief of the loss all over again. It almost staggers her, and she has to hold on to the door. She is happy Emma is free of this, she reminds herself. She is happy Emma and Henry are together. She is.

She is just also brokenhearted their happy ending couldn't be with her and Charming included.

She isn't sure how long she's been standing there when she feels Charming's arms come around her and rest on her stomach, while he puts his head on her shoulder. She leans against against him, feeling his strength steady her.

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to. She knows that he knows, because they know each other better than anyone else.

"Grumpy says none of the dwarfs remember either," Charming finally says. "I've asked them to call around, but I think the whole town might have forgotten how we're back in Storybrooke. I doubt it's voluntarily. I certainly wouldn't have forgotten my wife being pregnant of my own free will."

She feels a chill at that, and puts her hands protectively on her stomach. She will not lose another child to a curse. She will not.

"We'll figure this out," Charming says reassuringly, clearly picking up on her fear.

"I just hope it wasn't Regina," she murmurs, thinking of Regina's love for Henry.

"Do you think it was?" he asks.

"No," she says quietly, and he kisses her shoulder.

"Neither do I," he says softly, and she thinks about how far they've all come. "We should talk to her. Maybe she knows something."

"We will," Snow says, closing her eyes and feeling Charming's hands draw circles on her stomach. "Charming?"

"Mmm?"

They've lost so many things; Emma's childhood, 28 years together, the chance to truly be parents, and now Emma and Henry again. But they've also had the chance to get to know and love their daughter and to know that she'll be happy, the chance to have their grandson in their lives for a while, a new chance to be together and now a new baby.

She has to focus on that. It's the only way she knows not to lose herself in all she's lost.

"We're having a baby," she says, and she can't keep the joy out of her voice. Despite everything, despite waking up eight months pregnant just like that, despite missing her daughter and grandson fiercely, despite the fear of what being back in Storybrooke might mean – she can't help but feel happy too.

They're having another baby.

She turns around in Charming's embrace to look up at him. His gaze falls to her bump, and he puts one hand on it while the other stays at her back to keep her close to him.

"We're having a baby," he repeats in wonder and she swallows and nods. "We don't know how, but we're having a baby."

"Charming," she protests, putting a finger on his lips. "You know very well _how_. We just don't know when."

"I don't know very well how," he protests, his lips turning upwards slightly. "There are so many wonderful variations with you that _how_ is never the same."

She can't help but smile at that, as she suspect was the intention from his own smile. He leans forward and presses another tender kiss to her lips, caressing her cheek as he does.

"I love you," he says, kissing her before kneeling down to press a kiss against her stomach as well. "I love you too."

Of course he does, Snow knows. She doesn't need to have their memories of whatever time they've lost back to know Charming loved the baby to come from the moment they realized she was pregnant. She just knows.

He loved that baby from the moment he woke up next to his very pregnant wife this morning, after all.

As she did.

Not just like every other morning for the Charmings, but it is a morning and mornings are beginnings. They can start from here.

"I love you too," she tells Charming and their baby both; whatever else changes, she knows that will remain constant every morning from now on.

FIN

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End file.
